The invention relates to the field of side gas bags and to the folding thereof.
The Inflation of a gas bag exposes the vehicle occupant to a risk of injury, especially when he/she is not seated properly, for instance when looking out of the side window. In this posture the shock in deploying the upper part of the gas bag may impact the chin of the vehicle occupant with near xe2x80x9cknockoutxe2x80x9d severity. Especially toddlers are exposed to this problem since, for one thing, their head is located nearer to the gas bag than the head of a adult person and, for another, the severity of such an impact poses an extreme danger to them.
The invention is based on the object of sophisticating an assembly of the aforementioned kind so that the cited risk is practically obviated.
The invention provides an assembly comprising a vehicle structure and a gas bag side impact protection means with a gas bag and a source of compressed gas, the vehicle structure including a vehicle side wall and a vehicle interior, the gas bag being inflatable by means of compressed gas furnished by a source of compressed gas, the gas bag when inflated comprising an outer side facing the vehicle side wall and an inner side facing the vehicle interior the gas bag comprising a section which, when the gas bag is inflated, is located above the inflation port, the section being folded at least twice, forming a stack at the outer side of the gas bag, the folds resulting from folding the section running substantially horizontally. When a gas bag folded in such a way is inflated, it deploys on inflation initially in the direction of the vehicle outer side before it is then directed upwards. This results in the head of the vehicle occupant not being impacted from underneath and forced upwards. Rather, the head of the occupant is captured by the full surface area of the gas bag and moved in the direction of the vehicle interior.
The invention provides furthermore a gas bag for gas bag side impact protection means of an assembly in accordance with the invention. Likewise an object of the invention is a method of folding a gas bag for a gas bag side impact protection means of an assembly in accordance with the invention.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention the section of the gas bag located above the inflation port is concertina-folded. This concertina folding results in the gas bag being deployed stepwise and shifted upwards along the vehicle side wall.
Further advantageous developments of the invention read from the sub-claims